


Glimpses

by BrittaR (Taaya)



Series: The healing of broken men [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Refurbishing, gentrification, property, sickfic chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-06 00:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20282200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taaya/pseuds/BrittaR
Summary: Glimpses into a life with Severus.(Possibly a series of oneshots) Set after Of Broken Time-Turners and Broken Men.





	1. One house, two houses ...

**Author's Note:**

> So, this idea bit me and then turned out very different than first expected. In this oneshot I‘m basically Severus, completely helpless in front of the madness that is my writing.
> 
> I don’t know if there are other oneshots to follow, or how many might come. But if the muse kisses me or Severus keeps banging against my mind from the inside, maybe there are some more.

Private Practice

„Are you sure you wanna do this?“, you asked as you were standing in front of the house. It was more looking like a ruin than like a real home, but that made it so cheap. Not that you had any financial problems. While Severus‘ first book, his memoires, only raised money for charity, his following books were selling fast and good. He had published all the potion recipes he had enhanced during his school days – sorted by school year so that his books were now the standard for Hogwarts students and potioneer apprentices.

And he was still working for the potion development department of St. Mungo’s, which paid of just fine as well.

But buying a second house still was a huge step.

„Well, I need a bigger laboratory. And you said you were sick and tired of night shifts. If you want to be a freelance healer, you need rooms to treat your patients. Not to mention your own laboratory to make all the salves and potions.“

„I could buy those, you know?“ You grinned. You knew how much Severus hated the thought.

„Wasting perfectly good money on overpriced, mediocre brewed mass production crap while you have a potions master under the same roof? Now that is a fantastic idea. If you want to win the price of biggest idiot in the universe, that is.“

You giggled. Annoying Severus was fun. But you sobered quickly. „I guess I’m just reluctant leaving St. Mungo’s behind. I love the patients. And the colleagues. I love spending lunch breaks with you and sending the trainees down to clean your cauldrons when they misbehave.“ You knew that your voice had become whiny all of a sudden.

Severus wrapped his arms around you. He still looked a little grumpy – but then again when did he not? It was his default setting. „And when did you last have the early day shift that made it possible for us to take lunch break together?“, he asked, knowing only too well that it had been weeks since your sleep patterns and day routines were allowed to run synchronized for a while.

That had been the reason why you even started thinking about making any changes. You came home when he was about to leave the house and when he wanted to spend time with you, you already had to prepare for work again. As of yet you hadn’t fought because of it. But both of you felt how it drained your energy not to be able to be a perfectly normal couple. It even went so far that he had been the one to go to your mother’s birthday party without you while you had to work. Of course you had made up for it to your mother, spending an entire morning with her in a spa after night shift, but this couldn’t go on much longer without putting a strain on your relationship.

„And what about the insurance? When I’m a freelancer, I’m completely responsible for everything I do. No superior to protect me. Not to mention … Muggles, Severus.“

It wasn’t obligatory, but you had decided to get a license to work as an alternative practitioner as well. Hiding a magical business in a muggle neighborhood was a tricky thing to do, so you had decided that opening your practice for rather esoteric muggle clients would be the better idea. People wearing fancy clothes wouldn’t be that strange if you had a few hippies coming over as well. As long as you only used potions and salves on them and none of your spells it was allowed and common after all.

But in the end that came with even another insurance you had to have. And many precautions you had to take to still uphold the statute of secrecy.

And maybe right now you were beginning to panic, thinking about all you had to keep in mind for this to work.

„Shall we?“ A brunette woman came over to the two of you. She was drop dead gorgeous – and obviously your real-estate agent as she held the keys in her hand. „I hope you found here just fine?“

Severus couldn’t hold back a snicker.

„Well, we only had to climb over the fence, really“, you said, holding back your own laughter. „We live next door.“

„Oh.“ The woman looked over to your house. To her it looked just like a normal muggle house, though a bit better than any of the other houses in Spinner’s End. You had updated the spells a while ago to make your house look less like a worn down working class home and more like a well maintained house turned middle class by a lot of effort put into it. So it actually looked to muggles like it looked to you as well, just minus the rare potions ingredients growing in the garden and your owl enjoying a good day’s sleep in the fir you planted as an outdoor Christmas tree after your disasterous first Christmas together.

„And now you want to enlarge your estate?“, the woman asked.

„Yes and no. I want to work freelance and I need room for that. The houses here aren’t exactly large, so we don’t have room over there.“

„And as the prices are cheap in this area…“, she guessed your line of thought.

„Exactly. And not having to travel a long way to work anymore is a plus, too.“

Your real-estate agent opened the front door and if you hadn’t been a witch, the sight would have overwhelmed you. The house looked even worse on the inside. Cobwebs everywhere, some of the walls actually breaking down already and the distinct smell of mold in the air.

„You do realize that this will be a lot of work? It is quite possible that the house has to be torn down and rebuilt to guarantee the statical security of the structure.“

You bit back a smile. For muggles this place would have been a nightmare indeed. But for wizards? The hardest work would be keeping up appearances to the outside world. You had to gradually change the glamour of the house to make it look like you took your time working on it instead of just hexing it repaired in a matter of days.

„We know“, Severus said. „But we want the practice to be in Spinner‘s End.“

„A practice?“, now the woman sounded interested.

„I’m a h … alternative practitioner. At the moment I’m working in a larger clinic but I’d like to work closer to home. And as we live here, we thought working here would be nice as well.“

„Huh. I’d like that. If you could get this house to look like yours over there, it would upgrade the neighborhood and raise the prices…“ She blushed when she noticed she had said that out aloud. „I mean, if you have a practice here, people wouldn’t have to drive all the way to the city clinic for every little thing. This could help the neighborhood and might even lure new people into moving here. This could be a game changer for Spinner’s End.“

„You think so?“ You had never thought that far ahead, but maybe she was right. The more businesses could be found in an area, the more people would be willing to move there.

You thought back to your first Halloween with Severus when he got angry thinking you’d insult his neighborhood just because it was so run down and empty. Hopeless.

„Could you excuse us for a moment?“

„Sure, look around. But better not use the stairs until a professional can guarantee it’s safe to walk up there.“

You took Severus‘ hand and dragged him into the kitchen that looked identical to your own – just in worse state. „Let’s buy as many of these houses as we can“, you whispered.

„I beg your pardon? We only need one house. Or are you planning on having a whole football team of children? And even then it would be wiser to just add one or two floors to our own house.“

If you were honest with yourself, you still didn’t know if you wanted children at all. „No. I don’t want to keep them. But you heard her. If we make the neighborhood look better, the houses will become more expensive. Have you ever heard of gentrification?“

„I can’t say that I have.“

„It’s about refurbishing and modernizing neighborhoods. While the process itself can be good, it usually leads to low-income inhabitants having to move because they no longer can afford living there. Also some investors use it to earn a fortune with it. They buy run down houses, do a few things and sell them for a much higher price.“

„And that is what you want to do?“ He sounded skeptical, even a bit disgusted. How could he think that badly of you?

„No! Well, not exactly. I want to fix these houses and sell them for the same price we had to pay, or only slightly higher to make up for the hours we invested.“

Severus shook his head. „Are you out of your mind?“

You were confused. To you it sounded like a great idea. Ruining those property sharks their business while still bringing Spinner’s End back to life – giving low-income families the chance to buy or rent cheap houses that still looked good and wouldn’t collapse over their heads. „Why?“

„Fixing one house without construction workers might not look suspicious. But a whole street?“

Oh, so he was worried about the muggles then. You snorted. „Oh, come on. They built a whole Quidditch World Cup stadium without anyone noticing.“

„Exactly. They. The Ministry with dozens of employees. Look around. Do we have any employees? Do we have the money to employ that many people for such a long time as necessary for a plan of that magnitude?“ His voice had gotten colder, back to his usual ‚you are a dunderhead‘ tone. But then he blinked, seeing the look on your face. „What?!“

You grinned widely. „But that’s it. Those people doing stuff like this for the Ministry, they have to be trained. So they have to have training grounds. Wouldn’t that be perfect for them? They act like they’re construction workers while fixing the houses and creating the glamours necessary to keep our … nature secret?“

Severus looked beat. He knew he had lost this argument. „You realize that this way it might be a while until you find the time to actually work as a healer again?“

„I wanted to help people. And I think in the end that’s what I’d be doing here. No more looking down on people who live here. No longer this depressing atmosphere whenever we leave our grounds.“ Your eyes gleamed while you were picturing how children would be playing on the street, how the neighborhood would work together to finally clean the river. Maybe one day one could go fishing there again.

Severus shook his head, smiling lightly. „I found myself a lunatic.“

„A lunatic that you love.“

„That I do. And a lunatic I am also very proud of. But a lunatic nonetheless.“

  
It worked out better than you had anticipated. Only a year later the street looked far from poor. No more broken windows, no more leaking roofs. And life was finally coming back to the once so lifeless neighborhood.

Shacklebolt had agreed to use the street as a training ground for a variety of Ministry apprentices, looking rather happy not to find new spots every few weeks where his youngest employees could learn their necessary spells. But your friends had agreed to help as well.

Sheila was the first to make you an offer you couldn’t resist. She would help and in return she only had to pay the price you had payed for a house – and in monthly instalments. „Living next door to work actually sounds great“, she had said. „You don’t need a partner by any chance?“

And she hadn’t been the only one of your friends to be interested in the chance of finding themselves a home they could afford.

„There goes our peaceful life“, Severus had sighed one day when the third house was sold to a wizarding family.

You had just laughed. „More patients for a healer“, you had winked.

But most of the houses were sold to muggles. Some of them to young families moving out of the city centre to raise their children far from the smog and dirt of so many cars, some of them to a landlord cooperative that signed a contract to keep the rent low enough for working class and unemployed families to rent them. One house had actually been turned to a small super market, proving groceries close by.

You really were proud of yourself, although Severus was right. Life had become louder around here. Even living in the last house of the street you could often hear children’s laughter, people working on their DIY projects, dogs barking and all the other little annoyances that came with having neighbors. Still, you loved it. You had finally made a home, not only for you and Severus, but also for so many other people who might not have found an affordable home without you.

And still, now that the street looked lovely again, this was the end of your career as refurbisher.

„You know that there are many houses like that all over the country?“, Severus asked. „You could earn your living by buying them for a low price, fixing them at basically no cost with magic and selling them for a fortune?“

You nodded. „I know. But that’s not who I am. I don’t care about getting rich. I care about helping people and I care about my neighborhood. But now it’s time to do what I do best again. Back to healing people.“


	2. Caught in the rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reference to the wonderful Sense and Sensibility ahead.

Hurry“, you shouted against the heavy rain that threatened to drown out every sound.

„I should have known this“, Severus growled. „You always say it wouldn’t rain. And then it always does.“

You smirked. „Well, you suggested to take a walk. And I suggested taking an umbrella with us, because you reminded me of exactly this.“ You hurried further down the road. You didn’t need to look back to Severus to know he rolled his eyes.

„How should I know that there are so many people around that we would actually need to use something as primitive as an umbrella“, you could hear him behind you. Then Severus cursed. He had probably just stepped into a puddle.

He had a point, though. Usually when it was raining that heavily, you could use magic to repel it and keep yourself dry and safe. But now with children living in Spinner’s End and people having sheltered porches they could sit on, using magic on the street without committing a crimes against the Statute of Secrecy became close to impossible.

Still, using an umbrella wouldn’t have killed him. Well, now you both were wiser – and dripping wet.

You hurried down the street to the last house. For a moment you had thought about running to your practice and apparating home, but since you were already wet, the few steps more wouldn’t kill you, or so you hoped.

Finally you reached the door, Severus right behind you, and made your way inside. Warm air welcomed you inside and you began undressing.

Behind you, Severus just stared. „Is this supposed to be an invitation?“

You chuckled. „Old perv“, you teased, now fully unclothed. You went over to the living room and just wrapped the blanket around you, that had been lying on the sofa. Then you turned to Severus. „Darling, why are you still in your wet clothes? You’ll catch a cold. Come on, off with it.“

Reluctantly Severus unbuttoned his frock. A minute later he was naked and shivering.

You smiled and took his hand, dragging him to the living room. You lit up a fire and pushed Severus down on the sofa.

„What are you doing?“

You sat down next to him, so close that your thighs were touching, and threw the blanket above both of you. „Warming us.“ You winked.

~~~~~~~~~ 

Of course, you were the one catching a cold. But Severus cooked you soup and took care of you until you finally stopped coughing.

From now on he made sure to always take an umbrella with him when you two went out for a walk. But he also made sure that there was never more than one blanket on the sofa – so that whenever you found yourself naked under a blanket you would have to share it.


	3. Long night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have to work late - and Severus doesn't like it.

You were sitting at your desk in what once was Severus‘ bedroom. Now that you had been living together for so long he had finally given up on having a bed of his own to retreat to. You had yet to have such a big fight that he would actually need it. And so you had turned the small room into an office. You had even managed to persuade Severus in getting Internet access.

But right now you weren’t sitting at your computer, but you were sorting patient files, copying notes of the day into them, looking for better medication for their personal mixture of symptoms rather than the routine potions, or simply making sure that the files were up to date.

You hadn’t even noticed how the sun had gone down outside, until you heard steps behind you and looked up. When had it become so dark outside of the small light beam of your desk lamp?

„Come to bed“, Severus whispered. He lightly kissed the back of your head.

„Just a little longer. I’m not finished yet.“ And you needed some of the files tomorrow for your appointments.

„But it’s cold in here.“

You sighed. „I know.“ And indeed, the cold was beginning to work its way under your skin. „But using a warming spell that late would be nonsense. I’ll live. And look at it this way: All the more motivation to finish this load here as soon as possible.“

Severus rolled his eyes. He had just treated your last cold and probably didn’t look forward to having you cough, sniff and whine through the next one. „You are utterly insufferable, you stubborn woman“, he groaned and slid his robes off his shoulders to wrap them around you.

They were warm and smelled like him. You pulled them closer and took a deep breath. Oh, how you wished you could just go with Severus and bury your face in the crook of his neck. Or use his chest as your pillow. But you still had work to do.

„30 minutes. If you’re not in bed by then, I’ll carry you myself. Can’t have you go to work sleep deprived, can I?“

You smiled. „Alright, only the file for the first appointment tomorrow. I can do the rest in the morning.“

„After breakfast, not during breakfast“, Severus insisted. He knew you too well. Then he leaned in and kissed you. „30 minutes!“ With that he left you alone.

You smelled the robes again and smiled, then hurrying to finish your work. But then you paused. He would carry you to bed? Well, maybe, just maybe it would be more fun to keep working a little longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're interested in my original works (and why it took so long to write a one shot that short) and understand German, come read my original novel over at Sweek.
> 
> https://sweek.com/s/CwQLBg5sCAAFBQ4OBwYHDWYCCA==/BrittaR/Das-eine-Buch---NewPiperTalent2019
> 
> And if you like it, don't forget to follow my novel as it takes part in a competition to win a publishing contract. ;)


	4. The curious behavior of human beings on Valentine's day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the chapter title sucks, but I didn't know any better. Also I'm two days late. But I had the idea at 11pm at 14th when I was already close to falling asleep and yesterday I just didn't have the time. So ... read it now or save it for next year :D

„Ugh! I hate  people.“ You smashed the door shut right behind you. 

„ If I  remember correctly , this is my line.“ Severus  looked up from his  cauldron . 

You  glared at him , while he  chuckled .

„And what is it that you hate about them  exactly?“ His voice was still dripping with amusement.

„They’re just so insufferable today. Do you have any idea how long I had to stand in line to wait for a couple to finish … smooching in the supermarket? Honestly, even if he just bought her breakfast and sent her off to work, did he had to kiss her right at the checkout? Couldn’t they just have postponed it for a minute and maybe taken it a few feet further away, just so that none of us would have to wait for them?”

Barking laughter made you glare at Severus even more fiery. Not that he cared. He just went back to stirring the potion in front of him. By the look of it, it would soon be a painkiller, so he was probably replenishing your stores. Okay, that was nice, maybe you could let him live.

“This isn’t funny. It was annoying and childish and …"

“You do realize what day it is?” Your boyfriend still had a hard time controlling his amusement. And this man was supposed to be a master of concealing his true emotions? “What did you expect to happen on Valentine’s day? You have been at Hogwarts the year Lockhart was a teacher, have you not?”

“Oh, don’t remind me, please. Honestly, those poor dwarves. I hope he paid them good. But even than this was a clear abuse. Not to mention ableism.”

“What I meant is that you must know that some people enjoy this day a little ... expressively. It is one day of the year. Clearly you will survive it.” 

“Said the man who looked downright murderous that year with the dwarves.”

Severus shrugged. “I do not like people interrupting my class and I do not care for Mister Lockhart. It was only natural, that I was repelled by the spectacle that took place right around me. But one kissing couple cannot compare to the utter madness Hogwarts was in that year.” He gave the cauldron another  stir and turned to you. “Also, back then I had no reason to celebrate the day. You might have noticed that by now I do have somebody to celebrate it with.”

Your eyes widened ever so slightly. You hadn’t expected this to be anything else than a usual work day. Okay, maybe you would order pizza, so you wouldn’t have to cook, but that was about it. You hadn’t believed Severus would even know what date it was, let alone willingly acknowledge the tradition. “I ... don’t have anything for you. I didn’t think...”

He silenced you with a small peck on your lips. “Don’t mistake me for being overly sentimental. I do not expect us to read each other love poetry.”

“Though with your voice ... you could record it and made a fortune …", you interrupted him, causing him to smile. 

“Or any exchange of gifts, especially since nothing you could give me could be better than what you have already given me.”

You frowned. What exactly did you give him? What was he talking about?

He searched your faces for signs of understanding and smirked when he couldn’t find any. “You already forgot saving my life, taking care of me and rescuing me from the darkness within? What more can I ask for? What more do I need?”

Your cheeks felt heated all of a sudden.  Of course you hadn’t forgotten. But saving him had been your job. Okay, messing with time hadn’t, strictly, but as a young healer you could not waste a chance of not letting somebody you knew to be good die. Taking care of him had been your job, too. And you didn’t really chase away his darkness. You had both learned to live with it. And you had done so for rather selfish reasons. “I did it, because I wanted you to be fine. I liked you, still do. I did it for myself, as much as I did it for you, Sev.” 

“I don’t care for reasons. You saved me and made me the man I am today. For the first time in more than twenty years I am allowed to be myself, and to be happy with who I am. No longer a pawn on a board of chess, no longer just not good enough, because of who my father was. No longer just a little too dark or a little too cold. And no more hiding.” He shrugged. “And I thought we could just celebrate what we have. Once I’ve finished this potion and you fixed up the last of your patients, that is.”

You stayed quiet for a moment, taking in his tall, dark form.  So intimidating to others, but like coming home after a long, cold day to you. Then you smirked. “Would you mind us going to a store? I’ve been told that checkout lines are a very romantic place. Good for kissing.” 

Severus rolled his eyes and smirked. But  of course he didn’t go to a store with you. He wasn’t a very expressive man in public, and he couldn’t stand too many people around him, even on his best days. Instead he just apparated you home at the end of your day, cooked  you dinner and then took you upstairs for a bathtub full of heavenly smells, back massages and him actually reading love poetry to you. And maybe, just maybe, Valentine’s day wasn’t so annoying to either of you this year.


	5. Colour coding and Corona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content Note: Lockdown, Covid-19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter is a little canon divergent, as it is only set a few years after Broken Time-Turners, but at the same time in 2020. And not only that, some of the things I mention are ... well, maybe the UK had the same restrictions, but I used the ones I know, the ones Germany had.
> 
> But as the number of new Covid-19 cases are rising again, leading to a new wave of restlessness and possible restrictions, I wanted to find out how Severus and our reader would fare in a situation like this - without Severus already being 60 years old.
> 
> It’s not my best work, but I hope you like it.

Everybody knew that one day there’d be another pandemic. Not just because of probability. There had once been pandemics like the plague and the Spanish Flu, there was nothing to prevent them and viruses kept mutating, so it was extremely improbable that throughout all of the future there’d never be a pandemic again. But also because of what scientists had been warning about for years. With more and more mass production of meat, more international travel and overall globalisation the risks of viruses spreading wide enough to cause a pandemic grew. The risk of viruses moving from animal to human host as well. So it had only been a matter of time until something like this had happened.

What the world was not prepared for, though, was that this time even the wizarding world didn’t already have a cure. While during the last few pandemics and epidemics, the wizarding world had needed a little time to find out which potion was needed, and then time to boost mass production, so that there had been too many deaths in any case. Every single death was one too much.  
But back then they had been able to help sooner rather than later. (Except with Ebola that still was a mystery to wizarding and Muggle world alike.)

But this was new. The virus known as Covid-19 had spread too wide too fast. Or maybe the reaction had been too slow. When the international wizarding society first learned of the virus, it had already spread. Partially due to the internalised racism that unfortunately still was part of western societies, most national wizarding communities hadn’t paid attention to what had been happening in China. Just a national thing, they had thought. No need to force our opinion upon them. How naive. Instead of beginning to work on a way to cure the virus, they had went on with their daily lives until the first international cases had turned up. But then again, a few cases? Nothing to worry about, right?

By now most of the world was in lockdown. Not just the Muggle world. For the first time in known history even the wizarding world was forced to limit the freedom of its citizens. No owls – as, like cats, there were studies that implied that owls could carry the virus. No shopping without either masks or mask spells, and even then no unnecessary purchases.

If this would have happened twenty years earlier, this would have been a catastrophe. Back then witches and wizards had relied on owls and visits via floo powder, all of which were prohibited by now.

Nowadays, thankfully, even the wizarding world had discovered the advantages of the internet, had built themselves something like the dark net, so that they could communicate among their own without endangering the statute of secrecy.

But that didn’t mean that things were easy.

„Could you please cease … that?“ Severus sounded annoyed. In moments like this you wished he’d still use Occlumency on a regular basis, because back then it had been his habit to suppress most of his emotions whenever they were not necessary. He had a better grip on himself back then. Right now that would’ve helped you keeping a grip on yourself. „There is not a single molecule of dust on the bookshelves and our library doesn’t need yet another reorganisation.“

As you were no medical doctor you weren’t allowed to take Muggle patients in right now. But your private healer practice for witches and wizards was also temporarily out of business, because unknown to Muggles, magical folk was more likely to catch Covid-19. They simply didn’t leave the house if not absolutely necessary, and so they skipped most appointments with you.

Oh, every now and then you worked shifts at St. Mungos right now, but that wasn’t enough to keep you occupied. And so you had begun to look for other things to do, much to your husband‘s dismay.

„But colour coding had looked so good“, you disagreed.

„Need I remind you that neither of us had been able to find our wanted books back then?“ Back then was only three days ago. And fourteen. And …

„That’s what Accio was invented for.“

„Y/N, if you rearrange the books one more time, I will have to stun you.“

You knew, he meant well. Oh, he really was annoyed and probably as close to snapping as you were. But Severus also tried to keep you from working yourself up at the same time.

He wasn’t bored, though. He was stressed out by potion demands. That right now he sat here in your shared living room, reading a book, was just the eye of the storm. He didn’t read for pleasure but searched centuries old potion books for any forgotten recipe that could help. At the same time in the house next door potions were simmering in every single room, even your private practice. In one hour Severus or your would need to go over to stir the Blood Replenisher. You tried to get him to help you, of course, but Severus … well. You could see how the situation ate him up from the inside and brewing day and night was his way to fight it. But at the same time he seemed to take it as a personal insult that he hadn’t found a cure yet. And he made clear that this was mainly his fight. Oh, you could stir or cut roots, but this virus was his personal enemy and nobody was to get in between him and his nemesis. Why this was so important to him, you didn’t understand, but you respected his wish.

„What else am I to do?“, you asked him.

„How should I know?“ Now his patience was wearing thin. Again you wished he would still be the man you had gotten to know at first. He had never really been as detached with you as he had been when he was a teacher, but he had only ever snapped once and when he had done so it was out of pain and humiliation.

You had loved that he had opened up for you, that with the death eaters gone he had tuned down the Occlumency. But right now …

You left the room to go rearrange your clothes again. He couldn’t get angry with you if you only moved around your own things in your own cupboard. 

You could hear a sigh and then footsteps, then arms in a almost black frock sneaked their way around you, pulling you into a warm chest. A little too warm for your liking, in the middle of the current heat wave, but you just turned up the cooling spell. With Severus‘ help you had gotten pretty good at using magic without words or wand and cooling down a house was easy to do.

„I apologise. I realise that the situation is taking an extraordinary toll on both of us. I should not expect you to control your own frustration and boredom, when I fail to do so myself.“

„You’re far from being bored, aren’t you?“, you asked him. Not that you would’ve needed.

„One can be stressed out and rotating with tasks and at the same time be bored“, he told you and you turned around, looking at him in surprise. „Waiting hours upon hours for a new potion to be ready had once been calming to me. But now? I have twenty different potions I have to take care of at every time of the day, but most of them are so easy even a first year should be able to brew them. If they still have a competent teacher, that is.“

A small smirk stole its way on his lips and you couldn’t help but grin. In Severus Snape’s eyes nobody was competent enough.

„But right now every day is the same. Wake up, grab breakfast on the way next door, brew, spend the down time when potions have to stew a while, to browse older and older potion books, brew again, have your wife force food upon you every now and then and go to sleep somewhen when it’s dark outside, if there’s no potion wanting your attention.“

You nodded. That sounded like what you two were living right now.

„I don’t have space for my own experiments, as long as this virus isn’t defeated. Every inch of our practice is taken up by cauldrons for St. Mungos and the few potions I hope prove helpful for the virus itself. But this mixture of frustration and routine is becoming too much for me.“

„Then let me help with the easier potions. I am a healer after all. I might not be as good as you, but I can brew Blood Replenisher and Pepper-Up blindfolded. This way…“

„This way there would only be frustration left?“

„This way you have more down time that we could spend together.“

What would have sounded a little naughty when you had first gotten together, nowadays only lead to another question that Severus didn’t mind asking: „Spend together doing what?“

You wished he wouldn’t have asked, but at the same time it was a very good question. Cuddling was far from comfortable during the heat wave of this summer, and even if it weren’t, it got boring if you spend your days only cuddling. Same for reading, not to mention that the lockdown and the psychologically straining situation made reading for fun hard to do. You couldn’t take a vacation either, those weren’t legal at the moment, just like going to the cinema or even going out at night weren’t an option. What did other people do when they couldn’t go out? What did Muggles do?

„Well, we could try to order some gaming device of the Muggles with games that we can play together“, you suggested. „And while we’re at it, we should order a small pool as well?“

Your husband didn’t look convinced and you couldn’t blame him. While you liked some Muggle tech every now and then and even Severus had a mobile phone by now, he still was more of a magic purist – which was strange for a half-blood who had lived the first years of his life trying not to seem magical at all, because his father had hated magic. Okay, maybe not that strange that even now he was rebelling against his father.

„We could also start new hobbies?“

„Like what?“

Why was he so good in asking the questions you didn’t have a good answer for? He was pragmatic, after all. You needed to find something that he could both enjoy and that had at least some use apart from keeping both of you sane during the pandemic. „How about gardening? I know you have your potion ingredients out there, but have you ever tried tweaking them? Trying to grow more potent versions or getting a crossover between two plants?“

„More experiments likely to fail and frustrate?“

„Alright, then not potion ingredients but fruit and vegetables. Sure, they could also frustrate you, but maybe not as much?“ And at the same time growing your own food was not the worst idea ever. Great Britain was an island after all, an island that had to import up to 80% of all consumed food. Not only did the Brexit threaten those imports, but with the heat wave and Covid-19 it was not hard to assume that there might be some problems importing rarer food. Oh, you didn’t expect to starve, but with magic there should be no problem growing your own fruits, right? Maybe even those that usually wouldn’t grow in this climate?

„We could build ourselves a greenhouse“, you went on. „After all own two gardens and quite a lot of window sills. Why don’t we use the space?“

Severus rolled his eyes, though you could have sworn he only did it playfully. „My wife is becoming one of those.“

„Of those who what?“

„Of those who’s turning into a DIY maniac during the crisis.“

„Well, if my husband is too scared of me wiping the floor with him in electronic games? What else am I to do?“

Only now did his arms fall from your body. „Too scared?“, he growled.

„Yup.“

His eyes narrowed and he turned on his heels. But you weren’t worried you had pushed him too far. Instead you followed his long strives until you found him at the computer, just when he put a multitude of games into his virtual shopping cart.

„Don’t forget the console we need for that. And while your at it, a easy to set up pool, filtration systems, a greenhouse and seeds or seedlings of every fruit and vegetable that you like to eat.“ You grinned and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Severus growled again, unintelligible this time, but you could see his lips twitch. „Same day delivery, I assume?“

„If possible, yes please.“

So today your boredom would end. At least for a while. And you believed in Severus, it wouldn’t take too long until he had a spontaneous idea that would prove to be just what was needed to cure this freaking virus. In the end he always found a way, for everything. He just needed to take his mind off of things for a while, every now and then.


End file.
